Apparition
by Tsuki Hisakata
Summary: Sora has strange dreams where people from his past appear and taunt him, and ghostly visions of Kairi and Riku together.
1. Delusional

**Hey! This is my first FanFic and I hope you like it. I'll continue adding more chapters later, but here's number 1 for you!  
**reviews are nice, but please don't flame.

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**Chapter One - Delusional**

A sanctuary.

Tiny, cold raindrops fell on Sora's face, and thunder boomed in the distance.

A secret place.

Pink petals on cherry blossoms floated to the ground.

A garden.

The sky was black, but the stars that were visible shone a bright light.

The exterior of the dark marble walls that surrounded the garden on three sides held in them intricate, foreign designs and blue stained glass windows that seemed to glow like the stars. Inside stood, once more, three dark marble pedestals that formed a triangle on the north, east, and west sides, above which floated orbs. A glowing dark blue, they looked as if they held electiricty, although they did not.

In the center was something that resembled a bed. Sora stood at the entrance, keyblade in hand. He wore the usual black shorts and hooded jacket...armored, of course, and ready for battle. He nodded and took three steps in, then lifted himself onto the bed. A bright beam of light shot from each orb to the next, creating a triangle around him. Sora closed his eyes. Immediately, he began to hear familiar voices in his head. _Kairi,_ he thought. Searing pain shot through his body and he struggled to get up, only to be stopped by an invisible power of some sort holding tightly to his ankles, legs, wrists, and arms. Distant memories clouded his mind. The pain stopped. _Sora..._ a voice said_. I can't breathe_, he thought, _I can't breathe!_ He gasped for air, and began drifting to sleep.

Bombs of fire pounded the ground in a circle around Sora. He had to find a way out. Axel rose into the air and stared at Sora. "You pitiful little child...Are you really that weak and clueless that you can't find a way out?" His voice left a haunting echo throughout the room. Sora dropped to his knees, still surrounded by fire. He really was weak. _What's wrong with me?_ he thought. _How come I feel so useless? The power I posses is far greater than Axel's, and has been ever since King Mickey began training me. _Sora looked up. Demyx? The fire soon turned to water. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. "Hahaha," Demyx laughed. "Axel was right. We knew from the start that you and your little "crew" over there," Axel pointed to Donald and Goofy imprisoned, "were never good enough." Sora looked in the direction that Demyx pointed in, too see only Donald shaking the steel bars of his "cell". _What about Goofy? _he wondered. _Where is Goofy? _"Goofy? Goofy," Demyx stated, as if it was obvious, "is right there next to Donald. What are you talking about? He's been there all along." _Is he plaing with my mind? He's not there!! _"You're delusional," Demyx sighed. Sora turned his head back to the cell to see that It was now Donald and AXEL locked away. "Opps, sorry Axel. Let me fix that..." Demyx pointed his sitar at the cell and suddenly Axel was replaced by Goofy. Axel appeared at Demyx's side. "Okay, I guess we'll let you out," the two said in unison. The water fell around Sora like rain, now.

Sora opened his eyes, and they began to fill with tears. _Why are you crying? _he asked himself. "Why..." he whispered. He looked around. He was still in the garden, still laying on the bed. He closed his eyes again. _Strange dream,_ he thought. _Demyx and Axel...What was that about? Donald and Goofy in jail...that was particularly weird._

Laughter. Sora heard laughter, and leaned on his right elbow to face the west, in severe pain and utterly weak. _"Are you really that weak and clueless...?" _he remembered Axel saying. He shook it off. "I'm not weak," he said, "I'll prove it to them." Sora sat straight forward, getting ready to jump off the bed.

That's when he saw it.

The laughter.

It came from Riku, it came from Kairi. Kairi spun around in circles, catching raindrops on her tongue. Riku watched her and smiled, then stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her waist. She smiled softly as her fingers reached around his neck and laced together. Their noses touched. They danced slowly in the rain. Sora caught his breath, and tears actually fell from his eyes this time. They were invisible though, as it began to rain even harder. Riku gazed at Kairi's lips, then leaned in slowly and closed his eyes. Kairi closed her eyes as well and their lips touched. Sora became weaker watching their every move. Kairi's hand slid down Riku's chest, then abdomen, and finally under his shirt. She felt his abdominal muscles and pulled her hands from underneath his shirt and back around his neck. Their lips moved together in perfect motion; it was almost unreal how pure and beautiful they seemed together. _How could this happen? _Sora thought. _What's going on? My heart...I feel like my heart has just been shattered into a million tiny pieces. _The crown necklace that hung around Sora's neck began to glow. His heart really did shatter into a million pieces, as did the rest of him. Every piece of his mind, his heart, his flesh...shattered and disappeared.


	2. Kairi's House

**chapter 2 – Kairi's House**

"Sora," Kairi whispered.

"Sora."

"Please, Sora, wake up."

"K-Kairi...?" Sora blinked. "Kairi... what was that?"

"What was what?"

"You and Riku.."

"Yeah, we went out fishing today." She smiled. "Want some?"

"No," Sora shook his head. "In... In the garden..." _Was that a garden? _he thought.

"There are no gardens here, Sora."

"Axel..."

"You had a nightmare, Sora. You kept tossing and turning, and at one point you started to cry. What happened?"

"I...cried?"

"Yes, it was kind of cute, actually..." Kairi sighed.

_Cute?_

"Come on, let's go down stairs and have some fish. They're delicious! We smoked them ourselves." She yanked Sora out of his warm bed and pulled him down the stairs. They were in Kairi's house. Quaint. The walls were pale pinks and tans, beach colors. Every window had long, white, cotton curtains, and every window was open. Through them could be seen the beautiful beach of Destiny Islands. Calm waves tumbled shells and rocks, and the water was a mirror reflecting the bright sunlight. The floors in Kairi's home were various light shades from the palm trees that grew on the islands. Every inch of space held beauty, even unoccupied. Downstairs, the dining table was draped with a white cloth, and a vase in the center held pale pink roses. Next to the vase on either side were vanilla scented candles. The table was always set, even when no one was eating. Ten antique China plates lined its outside, as well as white napkins that held silverware. In front of them was smoked fish, ready to be eaten.

---

Sora looked down at their hands, which were glued together. His gaze shifted to Kairi.

"Your eyes…look so-" Kairi began, returning his gaze.

Riku appeared suddenly between the French doors off the back of the kitchen. "Hey guys!" He interrupted.

Kairi laughed, "Your eyes look so…tired!" she finished. "Hey Riku! Come to eat some more with us?

Sora was disappointed at her boring adjective describing his eyes. "Hi…Riku…" He slowly let go of Kairi's hand. "I'm not hungry. Riku, go ahead," he said, pointing to his food. Sora turned away and began walking toward the front door. He held his hand in the air as he went, and the keyblade immediately appeared in his hand.

Kairi stared at Sora's back in disbelief. "What's wrong with him?" she muttered. Riku stepped forward a bit and stood behind Kairi, resting his hands on both her shoulders. "He's always like this. I'm sure he'll be over it soon." Kairi looked up at his perfect face. Cheekbones so defined, perfectly pale skin and silver hair to match. His eyes glowed bright blue, like the ocean. Kairi blinked. _The ocean…_ It almost looked as if the ocean were _in_ his eyes.

Kairi looked down and followed the path Sora took out of the house. Riku stared at her back in disbelief. _What's wrong with her? _He thought.

---

The housing system on Destiny Islands was different. Each home took up two large, octagonal floors, and in one large (octagonal) unit were three homes, making a total of six floors. Outside each home was a wooden porch – or balcony for the second and third houses – that wrapped all the way around. At a certain point in the two balconies, one comes upon wooden stairs that lead to the balcony or porch of the house below it.

Kairi's house happened to be the one on the very top.

She stepped outside and leaned over the rail. There was Sora, sitting in the sand, watching the waves wash over his feet. "Hey, Sora!" she yelled, waving her arms in the air. She ran down two staircases and hopped onto the hot, white sand in her bare feet. "Hi Kairi," he said quietly.

She sat down next to him. "Something the matter?"

"No."

"You seem awfully upset."

"I'm fine," he said, unconvincingly.

"You're a terrible liar, have I ever mentioned that?"

Sora tched. "I guess so."

"What is it, then?"

"It's complicated, you wouldn't understand."

"Of course I would!" Kairi replied brightly.

"I…I can't, Kairi, I just can't."

Kairi sighed. "I'm here for you, whatever it is." She leaned over and pecked his cheek. Sora looked at her, his heart skipping a beat. Kairi smiled, then got up and skipped to their old raft they had made, tied to the dock. She undid the knot and stood on the base.

"Sora, it's a beautiful day! Come with me," she called.

He chuckled, smiling at her. "Maybe some other time."

Kairi frowned. She stopped when she noticed the paopu fruit sitting next to him. "Sora…what's that for?" She asked, pointing to the fruit. Sora picked it up and gently brushed the sand off of it.

"I was getting hungry."

"Tell me what happened in that dream of yours last night…" Kairi eyed him and paddled the raft to the shore, where it stayed.

"It was too scary…" Sora recalled all the events that had happened in last night's dream. _Axel, Demyx, Donald, Goofy… Kairi and Riku… _

"You know, I'm a bit hungry myself."

Sora looked down at the paopu fruit. "That..?" he asked.

"No, silly! I was thinking we should go get some of that fish."

Sadness filled Sora's eyes. If only she could know how much he longed to share a paopu fruit with her, the fruit that promises a life together. Ever since they were children Sora had felt strongly about Kairi. Now, even more so, of course, because he was an adult. He knew his emotions, but struggled to control them. _Can't you just get the hint?_

"Maybe someone needs to go on a vacation," Kairi said.

"To where."

"Hollow Bastion?"

Sora sighed. "Maybe…I need to get a house before I do anything."

Kairi laughed. He had been sharing a house with Tidus for the past year, even though the two rarely talked or even saw each other. Tidus was busy during the day, while Sora hung around in the water. Life had been going quite slow for Sora. No communication with the rest of his family – Donald, Goofy, and the King and Queen, that is – for a long time. No quests, no battles to fight. And most peculiar, no Heartless or Nobodies. Perhaps, a hiatus in their plans to find Sora on the islands?


End file.
